My TOS Shipboard Phaser

[Irishman]

A good number of years ago, I was rewatching The Original Series episode “The Trouble with Tribbles”, and noticed Scotty reading his technical journals, as he was wont to do, and on-screen, we saw a tiny glimpse of something there.

https://www.deviantart.com/irishman20/art/Thetroublewithtribbleshd0440-823927273
https://www.deviantart.com/irishman20/art/Thetroublewithtribbleshd0441-823927341
https://www.deviantart.com/irishman20/art/Thetroublewithtribbleshd0442-823927446

Although dialog in the scene never specified, nor was the monitor ever shown closely enough to clarify what the devices were intended to be, a pair of images have emerged since then, attributed via water-mark, to Paramount Pictures, Greg Jein and Ruth Berman.

https://www.deviantart.com/irishman20/art/Article10-pic002-823928227
https://www.deviantart.com/irishman20/art/Constitution-primary-phaser-823928299

These images are parallax-corrected, and provide captions that offer detail not shown onscreen, so I wouldn’t personally claim that the captions are canon. But, they are inspiring, and on that basis alone, I’ll provide them here:

“PRIMARY PHASER L , R
STAR SHIP MK IX/01
CONSTITION CLASS”

I was fascinated by the idea of fleshing out that schematic into something three dimensional, and which might fit into the larger creative body of The Original Series. That led me to my next major on-screen source for my take on it - the land-based drill from The Original Series episode “The Menagerie”.

https://www.deviantart.com/irishman20/art/Themenageriepart2hd255-823928387
https://www.deviantart.com/irishman20/art/Themenageriepart2hd256-823928473

The translucent aiming target, the glossy black panel with the same arrays of backlit buttons, and colored circular buttons, I drew inspiration from, and began to model from that point. I even think that I may have arrived at a clever answer to the perennial question: “What color are phasers? Are they red or are they blue?”

My answer is the they are both, depending on setting. The phaser schematic shows two halves, a lower left tank-like structure, and an upper right half that seems more like the emission end, or the business end, you might say. That upper right structure is oriented straight downward, with a set of 4 angled “barrels” above, that look like they could rotate into different positions, allowing for different energy outputs. Those output energies could explain why sometimes we see visual effects shots that show blue phasers, while in others, we see red phasers.

https://www.deviantart.com/irishman20/art/Sinclair-Enterprise-WIP-23-821742909

 

[Irishman]

I've also been able to do some orthographic renders of the phaser in its current state here:

https://www.deviantart.com/irishman20/art/Phaser-Right-Ortho-823966874
https://www.deviantart.com/irishman20/art/Phaser-Left-Ortho-823961235
https://www.deviantart.com/irishman20/art/Phaser-Rear-Ortho-823955874
https://www.deviantart.com/irishman20/art/Phaser-Front-Ortho-823955773

I'm pretty satisfied with the geometry, but there will probably be some material changes.

 

[ashleytinger]

Interesting. I like your take on it.

 

[scifieric]

Nice work!

 

[Irishman]

Interesting. I like your take on it.

Oh, thanks, ashefivekay, that’s good of you to ssy.

 

[Irishman]

Nice work!

Thanks, Eric. At least you can see now how I got to this point.

 

[Professor Moriarty]

Innnnnteresting. And i agree with the others, nice work!

Um, what are you going to do with these schematics once you’ve finished? Are you planning to visualize how this assembly would look when deployed on the Enterprise? Ever since “The Trouble with Tribbles” I’ve wondered where this device would be located externally. It’s shape doesn’t seem to conform to the do-hickey that’s attached to the “nipple” on the primary hull’s lower sensor dome...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/karltate/29608394416/in/album-72157673699079906/

 

[publiusr]

I've had my own ideas about phaser banks over the years.

We see what looks like a solitary phaser underneath the lower sensor dome--and we have seen the blister type phasers in blueprints--but there may be another option.

In 09' Trek--we have an atrium. In TNG, we have a computer core in the center of the saucer.

What if all the phaser banks are these pods--in the center of the saucer--pointing down at the lower sensor dome--where the beams can be directed out the side--at any angle along the surface?

I have this idea that the lower and uper sensor domes are huge-single piece dilithium crystals. Over time--starfleet became more sparing in the use of these--and the glowing domes vanished due to costs.

I was thinking about a fake paper that had it that early TOS phasers wound up more powerful than TNG beams after all--and how this became a scandle in the Borg fighting TNG era--a Starliner kind of flaw no one looked for.

 

[Irishman]

Innnnnteresting. And i agree with the others, nice work!

Um, what are you going to do with these schematics once you’ve finished? Are you planning to visualize how this assembly would look when deployed on the Enterprise? Ever since “The Trouble with Tribbles” I’ve wondered where this device would be located externally. It’s shape doesn’t seem to conform to the do-hickey that’s attached to the “nipple” on the primary hull’s lower sensor dome...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/karltate/29608394416/in/album-72157673699079906/

I’m very interested in exploring where and how these assemblies could be deployed, it’s also got me thinking about animating it in order to show that. Although I will probably wait until I’m 100% finished with the geometry and the materials, because I have never rigged anything for animation before.

 

[Henoch]

What if all the phaser banks are these pods--in the center of the saucer--pointing down at the lower sensor dome--where the beams can be directed out the side--at any angle along the surface?

I have this idea that the lower and uper sensor domes are huge-single piece dilithium crystals. Over time--starfleet became more sparing in the use of these--and the glowing domes vanished due to costs.

I like the set up for a stationary central dual bank of phasers pointing down and being redirected out the side. Most TOS visuals clearly show that the beams are emitted above the dome, so, I like to think that the ring above the dome is some sort of phased array device for directing beams at targets and dome is its targeting sensor.

The single antenna sticking out of the dome may be another sensor, but I like to think it is just that, an antenna. Two ideas: one, it is the subspace communications antenna (my preference); or two, it is the transporter transmitter/receiver (probably not, see below).

The whole assembly (weapon ring, sensor dome, subspace antenna) is located in an ideal position at the bottom of the saucer making only a small target. When these items are used while the ship has its shields/screens up, the defensive screens just around this lower assembly are momently turned off to fire weapons, use scanners, or send communications while the rest of the ship is still protected. Based on height from bottom to top of this assembly, the screens around the assembly may have three settings: one where only the red tip of the antenna is poking out so communications are functional; two where the sensor dome is exposed to take scans and targeting; and third where the ring is momentarily exposed to shoot weapons. YMMV

 

[Donnewtype]

I like what you came up with, though the close up looks to me like its showing a sectional view of the same assembly. Great work.